Sunday, November 29, 2015

The funnest news Saturday night was the announcement that New Hampshire's Union Leaderhas endorsed New Jersey Governor Chris Christie-- generally written off as an also-ran in the mode of a Pete du Pont, Steve Forbes, Pat Buchanan and Newt Gingrich. Du Pont, Forbes, Buchanan (1992), Forbes and Gingrich were each endorsed by the Union Leader and each went on to lose the primary, although the Union Leader stuck to its guns in 1996 and endorsed Buchanan again and he did manage to win the New Hampshire primary, although went on to lose 44 states to Bob Dole (and 2 states to Steve Forbes before Forbes withdrew). Buchanan had already won the Alaska and Louisiana caucuses before the New Hampshire primary gave him a 27- 26% win over Dole. Eventually Dole prevailed nationally with 1,928 convention delegate votes to Buchanan's 43, Forbes' 2, Alan Keyes' 1 and Robert Bork's 1. What a Grand Ole Party it's been! And if you want to see more of Darkblack's poignant and pointed artwork, you can check out his website.Today publisher Joseph McQuaid, without so much as a hint about any bridge scandals, wrote that Christie "is the one candidate who has the range and type of experience the nation desperately needs," before going on to slam the other contenders in the primary. In a harsh critique of prohibitive frontrunner Trumpf, McQuaid wrote that "the one reason [Christie] may be best-suited to lead during these times is because he tells it like it is and isn't shy about it. Other candidates have gained public and media attention by speaking bluntly. But it's important when you are telling it like it is to actually know what you are talking about. Gov. Christie knows what he is saying because he has experienced it. And unlike some others, he believes in what he says because he has a strong set of conservative values," implying that Trumpf neither knows what he's talking about nor bases what he spouts on a strong set of conservative values. Fair enough.McQuaid was thought to be describing Rubio when he wrote "We don't need another fast-talking, well-meaning freshman U.S. senator trying to run the government," though that could also have been a back-handed slap at Ted Cruz or even poor Rand Paul. He handled both Fiorina and Dr. Ben, deftly, with the line "We don't need as President some well-meaning person from the private sector who has no public experience."The most recent Fox poll of New Hampshire Republican voters has Trumpf up 2 at 28%, Dr. Ben down 5 at 18%, Cruz up 3 at 14%, Rubio also up 3 and also at 14% and no one else in serious contention. Christie's tied for 6th place with Huckabee and Fiorina at 3% each-- Huck down 1, Fiorina steady as she goes and Christie with the Big Mo, up 1. The Jebster has the same Big Mo as Christie, up a point from 4% to 5% but in 5th place, still the top choice of those who prefer an establishment hack. Kasich, like the Jebster and Christie, is spending all his money in New Hampshire but he's fallen from 4% to 2%, although that was before he released his startling new ad equating Herr Trumpf with Herr Hitler and forever burying Godwin's Rule.It was also before the Jebster went on CBS' Face the Nation this morning to assert that, although he would vote for Trumpf over Hillary Clinton, Trumpf is not a serious candidate and that he is "scary" and "uninformed," which, poor Jeb apparently still hasn't noticed is exactly how his party's base voters want their candidate to be. "Anybody is better than Hillary Clinton," quoth the Jebster, who probably isn't a Bernie Sanders backer, "but I have great doubts about Donald Trump's ability to be commander in chief. I really do." He really does. But he'd vote for him anyway. Now that is scary! Maybe he's just saying' it and, in the privacy of the voting booth, would really cast his ballot for Hillary, with whom he has much more in common.Overshadowing McQuaid's silly endorsement, though, was the more serious speculation that many from the GOP Establishment, unlike the Jebster, will not support Trump if he gets the nomination, including many of the big money GOP donors. Kasich-- who makes a lot more sense than the pusillanimous Jeb-- obviously won't, but The Hill has started asking establishment types not running for office. Former L.A. mayor Dick Riordan, who's spent over half a million dollars on GOP candidates over the years told them, given the choice between Trumpf and Hillary he "would probably go find a deserted island. I think Hillary is disgusting. And I think Trump is crazy." They didn't report what he would do if Bernie were the nominee.

Riordan is not alone. In conversations over the past month, GOP establishment donors have confided to The Hill that for the first time in recent memory, they find themselves contemplating not supporting a Republican nominee for president.

Max Boot knows what a fascist is, although he would never call himself one. After all, he works at the right-wing establishment's Council on Foreign Relations and he's toiling away for the Rubio campaign on the side. Boot did, however, label Herr Trumpf a fascist. "Trump is a fascist. And that’s not a term I use loosely or often. But he’s earned it." Indeed. At a recent Beverly Hills lunch for major West Coast GOP fatcats-for-Jeb at the Hotel Bel-Air the .001 percenters giggled about being forced to chose between Trumpf and Hillary. "One version," reported The Hill, "has it that most of the Republicans at the table put their hands up for Clinton."

Trump campaign manager Corey Lewandowski says he is not surprised that establishment GOP donors are sour on Trump."The GOP establishment will do anything they can to stop Mr. Trump from being the GOP nominee," Lewandowski said in a telephone interview Tuesday."Mr. Trump is the only one who is not controlled by the special interests. ... They want a puppet that they can control, and Donald Trump will never be that person."While Trump flaunts the fact that he is uninterested in the support of elites, there have also been reports that he has privately wooed billionaires such as Las Vegas casino magnate Sheldon Adelson.Trump says he has turned down multiple offers of $5 million-plus from lobbyists who he says would have wanted favors from his administration if he took the money.When The Washington Post broke a story about a pro-Trump super-PAC with closer-than-advertised connections to the Trump campaign, the billionaire front-runner and his aides pushed back forcefully.The super-PAC ultimately shut down, and Trump called on all super-PACs supporting him to return their donations. [Neither The Post more any other corporate media sources have acknowledged that Trumpf himself solicited huge contributions from friends, family and business associates for one off his SuperPACs before he was caught and exposed.]

The most generous Republican donors appear to be taking note of Trump's hostility. When The Hill studied the donation patterns of 190 donors and their families connected with the powerful conservative network founded by billionaire industrialists Charles and David Koch, not a single contribution could be found to Trump's campaign.But some opinions are changing, if ever so slightly, the longer Trump stays atop the polls.A number of Republican donors interviewed by The Hill, including Minnesota billionaire Stanley Hubbard-- who is himself part of the Koch network-- are making peace with the fact that there is some chance Trump could win the nomination.When interviewed several months ago, Hubbard said he would "really have to think about" whether he could bring himself to support Trump.But in a more recent interview, Hubbard was adamant that he would support whomever the Republican nominee is because they would make a better president than Clinton.

Republicano fatcats (and others), listen up! ¡Escucha! Forget Trumpf and forget Hillary and forget the whole idea of being forced to pick the lesser of two evils. How about a truly great president who will actually make America a better place? Try this. What do you have to lose? Really. Max out; feel good. Do it for your grandchildren and for humanity.Et maintenant, la voix de l'établissement d'en haut nous, simples mortels